Palmetto Bay councilman told his foe before Election Day: Drop out and I won’t sue you
Less than a week before early voting was set to begin in Palmetto Bay’s municipal election last fall, candidate Stephen Cody made an offer to a lawyer for his incumbent opponent: If Councilman David Singer withdrew from the race and resigned, Cody would shelve a potential lawsuit filled with tawdry allegations of infidelity and criminal behavior.
Singer turned down the offer. Cody never filed the lawsuit. And the rivals repeatedly savaged each other through Election Day and beyond.
Now, weeks after Cody unseated Singer by a margin of less than 500 votes, Singer has filed his own complaint, accusing Cody of attempted extortion and seeking $1 million in damages.
“He basically crossed a line and his information is incorrect. Very incorrect,” Singer, who filed his lawsuit last week, told the Miami Herald Monday. “It’s almost laughable. If it wasn’t laughable, I wouldn’t be suing him.”
Cody, whose offer to Singer is only now becoming public, contends there was nothing in his emails that was libelous or wrong. Instead, he says he was simply laying out allegations and asking for Singer to come to an agreement.
“If I had said David Singer murders and eats babies, that would be libelous,” he said. “I was saying there are allegations out there and I’ll forgo my defamation action against you, you forgo your defamation against me.”
The lawsuit alleges that Cody — a children’s book author, longtime political consultant and suspended attorney who is now a Palmetto Bay councilman — threatened Singer “with false allegations and harm to his family and profession if he did not resign from office and/or withdraw from a political campaign.”
Filed Thursday, the complaint is based on three emails, including one from Oct. 14 in which Cody offered, among other things, to refrain from pursuing a defamation claim against Singer if he resigned and dropped out of the race. Cody also accused Singer of adultery, insurance fraud, mortgage fraud and racketeering violations.
“Mr. Singer will resign immediately from his position as a member of the Palmetto Bay Village Council,” Cody wrote in the email. “Mr. Singer will withdraw immediately from the election for District 2 Village of Palmetto Bay Village Council Member currently set for November 2020.”
As part of Cody’s proposed deal, Singer would also agree not to sue Cody and the two men would “refrain from disparaging” the other.
Singer, a Palmetto Bay councilman from 2016 to 2020 and the chief financial and operating officer at retail developer Berkowitz Development Group, denies Cody’s allegations. He says Cody was trying to extort him, a crime under Florida law.
Singer told the Miami Herald he has referred the matter to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. A spokesman for the office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an interview Monday, Cody said he believes the Oct. 14 email is inadmissible in court. He seemed to say as much at the top of the email. “Settlement discussion inadmissible for any purpose,” he wrote.
Further down in the email, Cody added: “Please advise Mr Singer that he should not post the terms of this offer in any public forum or discuss them with anyone other than his counsel.”
But an attorney for Singer, Michael Pizzi, said he rejects Cody’s argument.
“Florida law does not provide blanket protection for improper communications simply by unilaterally labeling them a settlement communication,” Pizzi told the Miami Herald in an email. “When there is no judicial proceeding pending, Florida Law does not permit parties to protect improper communications by throwing in the word ‘settlement.’ ”
The other emails referenced in the lawsuit were sent in December 2020 and February 2021. In them, Cody launched a string of accusations at Singer, continuing a nasty back-and-forth between the two candidates that played out both privately and publicly ahead of the election.
The two men are strident critics of one another. Cody said during his campaign that he decided to run for the seat to get Singer out of Village Hall.
He attacked Singer on his Facebook page during the race, posting videos that played profanity-laced voicemails and a news report of an incident in Key Largo in 2017 in which Singer allegedly grabbed a man and was punched in the face. No charges were filed against him.
Singer jabbed back at Cody, posting often on his Facebook page and in local community groups about Cody’s Florida Bar suspension and various unproven allegations.
Cody, who was suspended from practicing law in 2013, said he will personally defend the case against Singer, since representing yourself doesn’t require a law license. Though he hasn’t been served with the lawsuit yet, Cody said he plans to file a motion to strike the emails from the case.
“I wouldn’t turn this over [to a lawyer],” he said. “I would have too much fun doing it myself.”
